Usually our main concern is how someone else views us,
especially family or loved ones. When a family member tells you that you are
too “fat” it probably means so much more to the person getting critiqued than
if they were to hear it from a random person off the street. My aunt is always
on me for being “fat” while yes, I have probably gained a little weight in the
past 3 years, even when I was thin she would tell me I was overweight. In the
article by Bordo he mentions how a
female 5’11, 132 pounds was getting “constructive criticism” from her
boyfriend, that she was overweight and should get down to 110 pounds. She was
probably trying to strive for that 110 pounds and definitely slipped into
anorexia.
The internet along with other social media is a scary place
in the world today. We see all these images of what we “should or shouldn’t”
look like and some more than others try to attempt to change their lifestyles
to look like exactly what they see. It is important that each person has their
own identity and is comfortable in their own body. Words or images can scar
people and they will do anything and everything to become that person in the
image. Although these pro ana sites are also suppose to help the woman who are
going through these disorders and be an escape for them, most of them are
sending the wrong message to others who do not have the disorder.
I looked through a lot of different pro ana sites and I
found this one very interesting. The site gives you about 60 different “rules”
as you may call it to become skinnier. Again I think these websites and images
are the problem with todays society because if a girl or guy that is slightly
bigger than the image they will follow these rules and try to get thinner and
more than likely become anorexic. Most of the web pages I looked at said that
for a normal anorexic person their calorie intake is about 400 a day, and that
4 meals with only 100 calories each.
Most girls feel the need to look like the picture to the
right above. Even though she looks completely fine in the picture on the left
she thought that body shape wasn’t good enough and got down to 110. In the
first picture the girl looks completely healthy, has a nice body and if she
wanted she could just exercise and tone. Instead she probably went on one of
the “pro ana” plans and shed all that weight in the wrong ways and probably
still isn’t satisfied with her weight and will continue to get thinner than the
picture on the right.
Your last paragraph in regards to the picture can be quite telling. With media influence and things found on the internet, the idea of becoming thinner and thinner can continually invade one's thoughts and shape their mindset. As you said, the picture on the left seems completely healthy and "normal", but the picture on the right shows evidence of what many of the pro-ana sites advocate. However, the idea of thinspiration can become a slippery slope. When is being a certain weight enough? Someone may always want to appear and feel thinner and thinner due to what they see and hear in their social context. I found these websites quite troubling, as they preach a lifestyle choice that can have severe ramifications. However, the social support these sites offer may have some advantage, which puts those in a bit of a conundrum.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. Social media and other internet sites are a danger zone for people with anorexia. The fact that they are giving advice on how to lose weight to people with an eating disorder is just absurd. The "thinspiration" photos are much like the one in your post from tumblr. I think that might be one of the most dangerous parts of these websites. When girls use these photos to compare themselves to it causes for emotional responses, whether it be insecurity or motivation to look likt the girl in the photo it is unhealthy. These girls are not healthy, they are way to thin and these websites are a way to promote this unhealthy behavior.
ReplyDeleteI think you make some very good observations! I definitely agree with your comments about the impact of being critiqued by loved ones. What I also don't think friends and family realize is how much you think about what they say. A flippant comment about "college weight," rolls off their tongue and they never think about it again, but it sits with you and you're left to dwell on it. As a former anorexic I know how true this is. I struggled with the disorder for most of high school. A large reason for my fall into anorexia had to do with family members commenting on my body during my "chubby stage." When I started to lose the weight those same family members praised me and embraced my weight loss. From there on out it was a slippery slope. I think a huge part of combating the anorexia epidemic is education. Parents need to realize the impact and influence of their words on their children. Children should also be educated on healthy eating and exercise habits, the emphasis there on healthy. I know that had I grown up striving to be healthy, and not skinny, I probably would never have battled anorexia. With the presence of social media in our current day in age, it's truly sad how many opportunities anorexics have to further and maintain their disorder. Many have already started this, but I think it's important to promote "normal" and healthy bodies on these same sites, similar to the "anti anorexia" ads from the Buzzfeed article. Anorexia is a horrible and crippling disease, physically and mentally, but there are certainly measures our society can take to combat and address it.
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ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your personal experience with us, I appreciate that. I also have family members specifically my mother who claims that I am fat and need to work out and lose my beloved beer belly (not that its from drinking beer). My mother suffers from her own body image issues and projects her self hatred onto me self and onto her children. The last time I went home, my youngest brother, who is only 12 years old was caught sticking his fingers into his mouth and throwing up dinner just last month. When I heard this, I was shaking with violence and disgust at the vile that my mother is spreading to her children.
ReplyDeleteThe Pro Ana link you posted with all the rules is a great example of the degradation people put themselves through in order to achieve the destruction of their bodies for societal acceptance.
The before and after pictures also give powerful imagery as to what a desired body does to an individual and what other people are expected to appreciate. The social consequences on the health of people is staggering.
This is only part of the problem our society has, parental influence is a huge portion of the psychological and social damage that young people face that attacks their idea of what a body is meant to look like. Media being a super giant in the way people view themselves on multiple levels is the battlefield that requires victories in order to promote the acceptance of natural bodies, not the Thinspo generation generated from the crap we see on television, magazines and tumblr. The thinspo tag on tumblr makes me sick.
The Tumblr picture you included describes the effects social media has on girls images of themselves perfectly. The left picture showed a healthy girl with curves who turned into a skeleton because that is what society portrays women should look like. I agree with the points you make and the detrimental effects "pro-ana" websites have on girls not only physically, but mentally as well. I don't think there is a problem with a girl who is a little over weight losing 10-15 pounds by eating healthier and exercising more; however, these websites promote already fit and healthy girls to cut down even more. I think the main problem with our society portraying this look for girls is that it trickles down in age groups. I have an 11 year old sister that talks about her "figure" all the time because of things she sees on tv and in social media. These eating and exercising habits are bad representations of how to live a healthy life, regardless of their age or size.
ReplyDeleteI too did some exploring of different pro-ana tumblrs and instagrams and found extremely disturbing images and self-depreciating thoughts from girls as young as 12. Its terribly how much our society praises skinny malnourished girls as being "strong" and having a lot of self-control. These pro-ana sites =, although meant to be for people in recovery on anorexia, only encourages and perpetuates the harmful influence that forced these women to start starving themselves in the first place. The Boreo article was based on the internet interactions of pro-ana blogs in 2004-2005, and although I do agree that the a lot of the conduct is still the same today, I do believe that the whole online community has changed. While searching through tumblr, I found a significant amount of blogs that were "pro-fit" and had fitspo tagged instead of thinspo. Our society has transformed from idealizing skin and bones to worshipping the fit goddesses and intaking enough calories to build muscles and be leaned and toned. Although this does seem like a healthier way to go about losing weight, these girls deal with the same societal pressures enforced on the women in the readings for today. I even felt a little bit self-conscious and ashamed of my body after scrolling through countless images of tiny girls with thigh gaps and I love my body more than any one I know. Our culture is toxic to women and the thin body image is just another systematic way to oppress women. As the Bordeo piece states, the time period women turn to anorexia is around the same time we have the ability to become politically active and make a difference in society.
ReplyDeleteGreat use of outside sources in your blog. The Pro Ana site really makes you realize that extent of the problem and how unhealthy losing weight can be. I find it interesting how losing weight is so prized in our society, yet what people do not focus on is how the person lost the weight. I had a first hand experience with this when I was in 6th grade. I was 165 lbs and never really spoke more than a sentence to a girl. Over a span of four months I dropped down to 115 lbs and started my 7th grade year a new person (literally, people thought I was a new student). People congratulated me for the dedication, but what they didn't see was the fact I ran obsessively and ate roughly 1000-1500 calories a day. In our society, the ideal body that people usually strive for is skinny, so when someone is transforming their body to become skinny they are motivated by other people through direct/indirect compliments. Thus, this has an influence on their mental state of mind which will cause them to continue to lose weight even at the cost of their health. I think if people were more aware of anorexia and Pro Ana, individuals could realize they've gone too far with weight lose and are putting their health at risk. Personally, it was very hard for me to stop losing weight because all the praise I was receiving from others.
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